PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has threatened to take action against chiefsย andย senior government officials he accused of leasing their lands toย white ex-farmersย disposed under the countryโs land reforms.
Addressing a conference for the traditional leaders in Masvingoย Friday,ย Mugabe said he was aware some chiefs were being used as frontsย by whiteย ex-farmers returning to the country.
โWe do not want to end up repossessing some of the farms that we gaveย youย under the land reform programme, but we know a lot of things thatย are happeningย on the farms.
โWe know a lot of things that some of you do not even know and itโsย notย chiefs alone who are fronting for the white men there are even someย seniorย Government officials who are being used by whites. Beware!โโ
Mugabe said the countryโs land reform programme โ widely condemned asย unjustย and racist by the West โ was part of a programme aimed atย giving Zimbabweans completeย control of the country.
โWhen we first took our land from the whites we knew that we were onย theย first stage of transferring wealth from whites to blacks and mabhunu celebrated kuti vari kutora mapurazi oga vanhu vatema asi isu we have the mineralsย and control the industries,โ he said.
โWe knew exactly that we were on the first stage of taking ourย resourcesย after we had educated our people from 1980 when we startedย building schools inย all parts of the country.
โWe now have many educated people and we should now move to assumeย totalย control of our natural resources. We can now stand on our own. Tinokwanisa kuzvitonga iye zvino chaizvoย izvo,โโhe said.
